Summary: Miss X complains the Council did not make any of the scheduled garden waste collections from her property in 2019. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s garden waste as scheduled amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X complains the Council did not make any of the scheduled garden waste collections from her property in 2019. Miss X complains that despite reporting missed collections and making a complaint, the service did not improve.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the information provided by Miss X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• discussed the issues with Miss X; and
• Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Garden waste collections

5. The Council runs a fortnightly garden waste collection service for 40 weeks between March and December. The Council charges a fee for this service and it is only available to customers who have subscribed for the service in advance. The terms and conditions for this service state the Council will consider a refund where it has failed to rectify a reported missed collection of garden waste on three consecutive cycles.
6. When a missed collection is reported to the Council, the Depot will ask the crew to return to complete the round as soon as possible. When the collection is complete, the Council closes the report.

What happened here

7. Miss X subscribed to the garden waste collection service in 2019. She complains the Council did not make any of the 20 scheduled collections. Miss X states she reported the missed collections and was repeatedly told the collections would be made, but they were not.
8. According to the Council’s records Miss X only reported five of the 20 scheduled garden waste collections as missed. The records show there were two consecutive missed collections in June 2019 which the Council closed just after the next scheduled collection. The Council also closed the report of a missed collection in September 2019 just after the next scheduled collection.
9. The final two reports were for consecutive missed collections in late October and early November 2019. On 28 October 2019, Mrs X reported the collection scheduled for 21 October 2019 as missed. The Council closed this report on 11 November 2019. This is curious as on 15 November 2019 Mrs X reported the collection scheduled for 4 November 2019 as missed. If the Council had collected the garden waste on 11 November 2019, it would not have been necessary for Mrs X to report a missed collection on 15 November 2019.
10. The Council closed the report of 15 November 2019 on 2 December 2019. This suggests the Council also missed the collection scheduled for 18 November 2019. Had it made that collection, it could have closed the report that day, rather than 2 weeks later on the next scheduled collection.
11. Miss X maintains she reported more than five missed collections, and that the Council did not collect her garden waste at all in 2019. Miss X made a formal complaint about the service in October 2019. She complained she had not had a single collection all year. She felt she was constantly fobbed off when she called the Council and that not all her missed collections were reported by the contact centre. Miss X considered it odd that the Council’s records did not reflect that she had reported three consecutive missed collections.
12. The Council’s response to her complaint apologised for the poor service Miss X had received. It confirmed the Service Manager had spoken to the collection crew and reminded them of Miss X’s collection. The Council acknowledged the inconvenience to Miss X but confirmed it would only provide a refund where three consecutive collections were missed, and the Council had not taken any action before the next scheduled collection. It stated the missed collections reported for Miss X’s property did not meet this criterion.
13. Miss X was unhappy with the Council’s response and asked the Council to review her complaint. She stated she had received nothing from the service, and question what she had paid for. Miss X also queried whether she would have to pay for the service the following year. In its response, the Council reiterated that Miss X did not meet the criteria for a refund. It anticipated Miss X would receive a much better level of service the following year if she decided to renew her subscription.
14. As Miss X remained dissatisfied, she has asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint. In response to my enquiries the Council states there is no evidence to suggest that Miss X’s calls were not logged as missed collections. It states that when missed collections are reported online or by telephone it creates a worksheet for the depot to rectify the missed collection.
15. The Council states that Miss X’s street is quite narrow, and access is often restricted due to parked cars. It suggests this restricted access may account for the missed garden waste collections, and that when access was clear the collections were completed as scheduled.

Analysis

16. It is clear from the Council’s records, and the Council accepts, it missed some of Miss X’s garden waste collections in 2019. The issue in dispute is the number of collections it missed, and whether it missed three consecutive collections.
17. Miss X asserts the Council failed to make any of the scheduled garden waste collections in 2019 while the Council states it made three-quarters of the collections. I have not received evidence to show the Council missed all 20 collections, or that Miss X’s reports to the contact centre were not passed on.
18. But based on the inconsistencies in the Council’s records for the missed collections in October and November 2019 I consider it likely at least one more collection was missed. Having missed collections on 21 October and 4 November 2019, a further missed collection on 18 November 2019 would mean the Council missed three consecutive collections.
19. The repeated failure to collect Miss X’s garden waste amounts to fault. Missing three consecutive collections and not taking action to rectify this before the next scheduled collection is also a service failure under the terms and conditions of the service.
20. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice. Mrs X has had to find other ways to dispose of the uncollected garden waste. She has also experienced frustration and disappointment, both with the missed collections and the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. Miss X has been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

21. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X for the frustration and difficulties the failure to make regular garden waste collections has caused.
22. The Council has also agreed to refund the fee Miss X paid for the garden waste service in 2019.
23. The Council should carry out this action within one month of the final decision on this complaint.

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Final decision

24. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Miss X’s garden waste as scheduled amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman